Tag Archive 'Contemporary Blues'

“As soon as Benjamin Booker’s eponymous 2014 debut kicks in with a skittish guitar run and a primal garage beat, it’s clear the guitarist — a native of Tampa Bay who spent time in New Orleans before heading back to Florida — is unapologetic for the debt he owes to Jack White. Like the Black [...]

“…Storytone is fairly messy — which is quite an achievement for an album recorded in large part live in front of a full orchestra. Young does indeed croon over those strings, often rhapsodizing about the powers of new love or pleading to save the Earth, although he sometimes gets restless and rolls out a swinging [...]

“Foley’s nasal yet emotive voice and Karp’s raspier edge would seem to be unlikely companions but the contrasts work and even balance each other out. It helps makes this a logical, perhaps less ambitious but ultimately more organic follow-up to their revealing debut and indicates that for these two, in life and music, perhaps the [...]

“On Blak and Blu, most of Clark’s tunes are solidly rooted in the blues, but he’s also folded in hearty servings of hard rock, funk, retro-soul, and even a dash of hip-hop, and the way he lets the flavors mix is a big part of what makes this album work so well.” –All Music Guide [...]

“Janiva Magness hasn’t recorded any of her own compositions since she cut ‘Good Car’ on It Takes One to Know One, her 1997 debut. Here she makes up for lost time with three compelling co-writes with producer David Darling. The tunes are some of the most potent on an album with no shortage of powerful [...]